It is known to provide an apparatus for the automatic or semiautomatic packaging of paper stacks in which a packaging or box blank is folded into the shape of a box and formed around a ream or other stack of paper deposited on that blank. The apparatus generally comprises a box-folding assembly associated with a suction plunger assembly providing a receiving plane for the blank. As the suction plunger assembly is lowered, the box folding assembly is effective to fold the blank into a box shape around the paper stack which is deposited on the blank, e.g. by folding the sides of the blank into an upright configuration about the paper stack.
The apparatus must be capable of accommodating different formats or sizes of the paper stack and the packaging blank.
With prior art apparatuses of this type, the structurally separate box folding assembly and suction plunger assembly must be adjusted separately and hence the setting of the apparatus to a particular format or the change of format of the assembly is complex, requires a number of manipulative procedures and positioning operations and, in particular, mandates separate adjustment or resetting of the box folding unit and the suction plunger unit.